IT'S good news that Bristol has, on our third attempt, won our bid to become European Green Capital. Bristol is already a hub of green expertise, being home to organisations like the Soil Association, the Environment Agency and Sustrans. We also have world-leading companies such as the renewable energy experts, Garrard Hassan.

We are leading the pack when it comes to sustainable food. We were the first city in the UK to set up a food policy council. Innovative projects such as Feed Bristol help more people to grow their own food. A pilot scheme is currently in the city to develop a model for redistributing food which would otherwise be wasted. As I mentioned in Parliament decline in Britain's bee population is worrying. Many people across Bristol are creating bee-friendly gardens and habitats. I hope the council will now build on its good work, such as its Urban Pollinators Project, with the University of Bristol and make Bristol the first city in the country to introduce a pollinator action plan.

The Green Capital title provides an opportunity to attract further investment, to develop green supply chains and infrastructure – which should help stimulate growth and green jobs. But I can also see why some have reacted to the Green Capital bid with cynicism, some even going so far as it to call it "greenwash". Bristol still has a long way to go if it wants to serve as a European exemplar of green living.

Bristol can never be a truly sustainable city unless we see dramatic improvements in its public transport system. This should include the Bristol Metro (and the much needed Henbury loop), the reopening of the Portishead line, much better provision for cyclists. Above all, we need to end the deadlock with First Bus, who have been criticised but never really challenged for years.

Secondly, much of Bristol's housing stock is not energy efficient. This is a particular problem in the private rented sector, where there is little incentive on landlords to improve their properties. After all, they're not the ones who have to pay the fuel bills. Since this government abolished Labour's Warm Front programme, help for households living in fuel poverty to make their homes more energy efficient has dropped. The government's flagship Green Deal policy will not benefit most of these vulnerable households. If it presses ahead with this policy the government's own figures show it will fail to transform our poorly insulated housing stock – with the number of loft insulations predicted to plummet by 83 per cent this year, while the number of cavity walls being insulated will fall by 43 per cent.

Thirdly, education is vital if we are to understand how our unsustainable actions today will have consequences for future generations. The good awareness-raising work taking place in Bristol will be compromised if Michael Gove's plans to airbrush the study of climate change from the curriculum until the age of 14 goes ahead. There is still lots to do. But winning this award provides a great incentive for doing them.